Graphics, Figures & Tables ⇒ How to prevent a table from crossing the margin area?

[yoyoimut]

Hello,

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Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,11pt,final,dvips]{book}
\usepackage[includemp=true,margin=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{array,longtable,lipsum,xcolor}

%------------------------- MARKER ------------------------	
\newcommand*{\MARKER}%
{%	
	\par\noindent\strut\vrule\hrulefill~{\color{red} text area}~\hrulefill\vrule%
	\marginpar{\strut\vrule\hrulefill~{\color{red} margin area}~\hrulefill\vrule}\par%
} 


\begin{document}
\MARKER
\begin{longtable}{|m{0.5\textwidth}|m{0.5\textwidth}|}\hline
\lipsum[1]&\lipsum[3]\\\hline
\end{longtable}

\pagebreak
\MARKER
\begin{longtable}{|m{0.5\textwidth}|m{0.5\textwidth}|}\hline
\lipsum[1]&\lipsum[3]\\\hline
\end{longtable}
\end{document}

I tried to make the table fit the text area by setting each column to the half of the text area width. However, the table still crosses the margin area.
How to prevent the table from crossing the margin?


thank you in advance.


regards,

Yuko

[gmedina]

Hi,

dont't forget that in addition to the width of the columns (0.5\textwidth in your example) you have to take into account the space between columns (controlled by the length \tabcolsep (default value: 6pt) in a tabular environment and by \arraycolsep in an array environment (default value: 5pt)) and the width of the rules of the table (controlled by \arrayrulewidth (default value: 0.4pt)).

Setting those values to 0pt will prevent your table from crossing the margin area, but of course, there will be no separation between columns and there will be no rules:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,11pt,final]{book}
\usepackage[includemp=true,margin=3cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{array,longtable,lipsum,xcolor}

%------------------------- MARKER ------------------------   
\newcommand*{\MARKER}%
{%   
   \par\noindent\strut\vrule\hrulefill~{\color{red} text area}~\hrulefill\vrule%
   \marginpar{\strut\vrule\hrulefill~{\color{red} margin area}~\hrulefill\vrule}\par%
}

\begin{document}

\setlength\tabcolsep{0pt}
\setlength\arrayrulewidth{0pt}

\MARKER
\begin{longtable}{|m{0.5\textwidth}|m{0.5\textwidth}|}\hline
\lipsum[1]&\lipsum[3]\\\hline
\end{longtable}

\pagebreak
\MARKER
\begin{longtable}{|m{0.5\textwidth}|m{0.5\textwidth}|}\hline
\lipsum[1]&\lipsum[3]\\\hline
\end{longtable}

\end{document}

That's why the sum of the widths of the columns of a table should always be slightly less than \textwidth.

[yoyoimut]

Thank gmedina for your useful information about the three length properties of tabular and array.


I use calc.sty and do the calculation as follows:

Code: Select all

\newlength{\mycolwidth}

%number of columns, N = 2
%tabcolsep = 6pt
%arrayrulewidth = 0.4pt

%12.6pt = (2 x N x tabcolsep  + (N + 1) x arrayrulewidth) / N 
%12.6pt = (2 x 2 x 6pt  + (2 + 1) x 0.4pt) / 2

\setlength{\mycolwidth}{0.5\textwidth-12.6pt}

regards,

Yuko